Probably for the Best
by Increasing Paranoia
Summary: Stephen didn't ask Abby out after being bitten by the Arthropleura. He asked out Connor. With Stephen having forgotten the entire incident and Connor willing to let it go, Abby's pissed off and fighting on Connor's behalf.


A/N: Hey look, another Primeval fic! I'm really struggling with the fourth chapter of Uncommon Occurrences so I just keep distracting myself with stories for other fandoms. Anyway, this new fic is dedicated to dragonheartt and aunteeneenah (hope I spelled those correctly) for being awesome and reviewing my first Primeval fic - Is Yours a Snorer?

* * *

Connor couldn't _believe_ how monumentally stupid he'd been. Something poisonous had been killing people and he'd just assumed it was the spiders instead of the Arthropleura. And now Stephen was injured and dying and he was just standing there feeling completely useless. He turned, wanting to go back and see if he could possibly find something in the database that could help them but Abby shouted to him, motioning him over to the stretcher.

"Have dinner with me," Stephen more or less demanded as soon as he caught sight of him. Well, _that_ pulled Connor up short and left Abby staring gobsmacked between them.

"We'll talk about it when you're better," Connor stated making a helpless gesture at the platinum blonde. The gesture more or less stated, _I've absolutely no idea what brought this on._

"I can't wait that long." Stephen stated as the venom forced his body into painful convulsions. Connor looked at Abby helplessly – he didn't want to hurt Stephen's feelings when he could possibly be dying but he'd also rather not piss-off the blonde. She nodded.

"Of course I will," Connor stated, grinning weakly. "And I'll have coffee at your place later and stay for breakfast in the morning." Stephen gave a breathless laugh.

"Good result. It's amazing how much easier this stuff is when you're dying."

"You're not dying," Connor argued, determination flooding his voice. Stephen didn't get a chance to respond as the medics moved forward and began loading his stretcher into the ambulance. "Abby, stay with him?" he asked, turning around.

"Connor, he wants _you_." She informed him.

"And if we were dealing with a reptile I'd go, but we both know that right now, I'm better equipped intellectually to deal with the Arthropleura. Abby, please," he begged. Realization dawned on her face.

"You really do like him," she stated. "You never said anything."

"I never thought I had a chance," he confessed. "Now get in before they leave without you." The blonde gave him a quick hug before clambering into the back of the ambulance and Connor took a moment to compose himself before turning around and sprinting after the Professor.

It didn't take much effort to get the spiders back through the anomaly but when Abby showed up stating that the hospital couldn't save Stephen without a sample of the venom, Connor knew something crazy was going to happen. And he was right. They moved back down into the tunnels and looked everywhere they could for the Arthropleura, but it seemed that it had disappeared back into the anomaly and Connor could have cried. Stephen was going to die and it was going to be all his fault. And then Connor could have kicked himself for being such an idiot. Centipedes were burrowers – the damn thing had probably dug its way to another section of the tunnel!

He couldn't keep the elation off his face after finding the tunnel and when Cutter insisted on following it down, Connor was just as adamant that he would be going as well. Anything to help save Stephen. He cast a last look at Abby before following Cutter down the hole and a silent understanding passed between them. Yet despite Abby finally knowing about Connor's crush on the older man and her understanding of it, he still couldn't bring himself to tell her what happened down below.

"How is he?" he asked quietly as he entered the hospital room.

"The convulsions have stopped. That's something," she stated, rearranging herself to get more comfortable on the chair. "You really like him, don't you?" Connor shook his head.

"I don't know him."

"When has that ever stopped people from fancying each other before?" she teased. Before Connor could answer, Stephen began coughing and Connor turned on his heel.

"Doctor, I think he's back!" he called as he exited the room. Later, after Stephen finished his latest round of tests, Abby was re-entering the room as Stephen finished talking with Claudia.

"What was that all about?" Stephen asked as Claudia left.

"You really can't remember a thing after you were bitten?" she asked, her heart sinking. "None of the things you said in the ambulance?"

"W-what did I say?" Stephen asked, confused. Abby sighed.

"Oh. Just stuff. I just thought some of it might have stuck, that's all."

"Was it important?" he asked after a minute of staring.

"Nah, nah, not really," she assured him and he returned to his book. How was she going to break the news to Connor?

"Thanks for looking after me, Abby." Oh, crap. Well, she'd have to nip this in the bud.

"Just doing as I was asked," she assured.

* * *

"He doesn't remember," Abby whispered as they headed to Stephen's hospital room the day of his release. Connor quit walking.

"Anything?" he asked. Abby shook her head.

"He remembers going into the tunnel and that's it," she stated. "I'm so sorry, Connor. But now that you know he likes you, maybe you can make the first move," Abby told him, giving him a sly grin. Connor gave a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, no. Come on," he stated, resuming his walk.

"Oh, forgot my bag at the store," Abby stated, turning around. "Go on ahead and I'll meet you there!" Connor sighed, knowing that Abby was most likely bullshitting him just so he'd have alone time with Stephen. He knew she meant well but being left alone with the older man was the last thing he wanted right now. Taking a deep breath, he entered the room. Stephen was finishing his last minute packing and Connor leaned against a cart to stay out of his way. After preliminary small-talk, Connor cut to nitty-gritty.

"You really can't remember a thing?"

"Not a thing after I went into the tunnels," Stephen stated, circling back around to shove more things into his bag. "Probably for the best, though, right? Still, they say it's only short-term, so, you know..." he shrugged before moving to collect more of his stuff.

"It's all been pretty scary, hasn't it?" Connor asked, giving Stephen a worried look when his back was turned. "You know, it's not until you got bitten that I thought that one of us might actually die from doing this. Really upset me," he confessed.

"You must have gone through hell," Stephen stated sarcastically. Okay, that stung.

"Yep. It did make me think about what's important, though, you know," he continued, standing and walking closer to the older man. "Sorts out your priorities a bit." Stephen shot the scientist a look somewhere between bemused and annoyed. "If you get killed, can I have your iPod?" he asked with a grin. Before Stephen had a chance to answer, Abby entered the room – sans bag. But she was a bit more dressed up than she had been when they first arrived at the hospital. "Is that perfume?" Connor asked, missing the calculating look Stephen gave him.

"I can do the girl thing, you know," Abby shot back defensively.

"You look really good," Stephen told her as he grabbed his bags. "It's good of you both to come. Shouldn't have bothered," he informed them as he headed for the door.

"Don't flatter yourself," Connor bantered. "Some of us just like hanging out with the nurses," he informed the other man, turning around and smiling at a nurse.

"Come on. I'll give you a lift home," Abby whispered, eager to tell Stephen about how he had asked Connor out.

"Oh, there's no need. My girlfriend's picking me up."

"Girlfriend?" she asked, giving Connor a quick glance out of the corner of her eye but the scientist's face remained emotionless.

"Alison. She's been in the rainforest for two years, researching infectious diseases."

"Let's hope she's not one of those girls that brings her work home with her." Connor joked and Abby wondered how Connor could even stand to joke when Abby was ready to punch Stephen out. And she wasn't even the one he'd asked out!

"You must have missed her," she stated, not quite keeping the anger out of he voice.

"Yeah," Stephen stated, giving her a long glance. He hadn't missed the warning glance Connor threw at her either. Just what had he said while he was poisoned? He shifted his gaze back and forth between his two co-workers for a moment before stating, "I'd better go."

"Bye." Connor waved. Abby said nothing. "Two years? How much sex are they going to have over the next few days?" he asked. Abby smacked him with the pillow.

"Don't even pull that with me," she warned. "That thing where you crack a joke to make it seem like you're not as upset as you are! Sorry," she apologized when she saw the kicked puppy-dog look on Connor's face.

"You look nice," he told her.

"Thanks. My girlfriend set me up with one of the male nurses here. I popped in to say hello." An awkward silence fell. "Want to go get some lunch?" she offered.

"Yeah."

* * *

"You know," Connor stated to Abby as he sat down on the edge of the pool. "Maybe if we weren't constantly getting called to investigate anomalies, I could actually have a romantic life of my own." The two friends looked at each other and busted out giggling as Stephen sat down beside Connor. The scientist cleared his throat and became serious. "With all this chlorine in the pool, I'm surprised the creature even came through. To a reptile, it would have been like swimming in a bucket of acid."

"Yeah, it probably sensed the danger and got out fast before the anomaly closed," Stephen stated as he put his flippers on. _And really_, Connor thought, _having a soaking wet, half-dressed man sitting next to him just wasn't fair._ Connor stood abruptly and walked off.

"So, how's Alison?" Abby asked.

"Jet-lagged." Stephen answered shortly as he cleared the inside of his goggles.

"You see, it's funny because you always give the impression like you were single," Abby accused.

"That's funny," Stephen stated, unperturbed. "I didn't think I was giving any impression whatsoever."

"You'd be surprised," Abby stated, her gaze locking onto where Connor was testing water samples.

"Abby, I'm flattered, but you're really not my type." Stephen dove into the water before Abby could respond and the blond growled underneath her breath. Why was it men always ran away from serious discussions? Well, Stephen was sorely mistaken if he thought this discussion was over. It was just going to be continued at the reservoir.

Or so she had thought. But Stephen cut her off at every turn and with Connor off doing...whatever scientist thingy it was he did...Abby had no way of letting Stephen know what he'd done. But then Connor was yelling for the Professor and sometimes they all forgot how truly brilliant the young man was. Because Connor was the one who realized the reservoir was now a tidal lake simply by keeping measurements of how deep the water was. And then Stephen and Cutter were going with the divers, leaving her and Connor to collect water samples. At least she had a gossip buddy.

"He doesn't remember a thing, you know, Stephen." Connor defended.

"That's not the point!" she shouted. "He knew what he was doing when he asked you out. He knew he had a girlfriend!" Abby was affronted for him.

"Yeah, and he'd also just been poisoned by a giant centipede," Connor pointed out. "That might have affected his judgment just a little bit." Abby rolled her eyes.

"You're too kind-hearted. You're always going to think the best of everyone."

"What am I saying? You know, you're right. He's a two-timing weasel, and maybe I should put that down to experience and move on. You know, there's plenty more fish in the sea." He fell quiet but when he and Abby met eyes, they both busted out laughing again. And the good times continued until the Mosasaur decided that the two of them would make a good lunch.

"Did you see it?" Cutter shouted as he and Stephen returned to shore. "It looked like it was injured when it swam past."

"Yeah, Connor did that," Abby stated shakily. "Beat him off with an oar."

"Some kind of Mosasaur," Connor told the Professor. "Maybe six or seven meters. Cretaceous, at a guess."

"Scary," Cutter stated, looking over to where Abby was getting checked out by medics. "And at that size it couldn't have been fully grown."

"Yeah," Connor gave a breathless laugh.

"Which is just as well for you," Cutter stated, giving the young man a pat on the shoulder. He was intensely relieved that Connor had managed to fight the beast off. He seemed to attract every beast they went after and found odd ways of holding them off until help arrived. First the Arthropleura with the stool, now a Mosasaur with an oar. Whatever next? Cutter didn't have long to muse on the question as Claudia arrived and he left Connor standing on the end of the dock staring out at the water.

"You saved my life," Abby stated, grabbing his hand and giving him an honest smile. The statement gave Connor pause but he smiled.

"I did, didn't I?" he asked, pleased. Abby gave a small laugh before wrapping him in a hug. They both missed the fact that Stephen was staring at them.

* * *

Stephen couldn't understand the sudden feelings of jealousy whenever he saw Abby and Connor together. He knew it had to do with the things he couldn't remember, given that Connor practically fled whenever Stephen got close to him and Abby was downright hostile. But it wasn't until he caught sight of the photographs at the ARC headquarters that his memory decided to fill him in. However, it wasn't the memories of Abby and Connor that he remembered.

"I've been remembering things," he told Cutter as they stood on the stairwell.

"You mean Helen," Cutter stated quietly and Stephen nodded.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Did you go looking for her?" he asked and Cutter stepped away.

"Look, if she wanted to talk to me, then she could have. But I'm not going to track down a woman who let me believe she was dead for eight years and left you there in the tunnel to die when she could have helped you. Are you going to tell the others?" he asked. Stephen thought about it for a moment.

"No, it's not my call. Do you know...anything I might have said to Abby or Connor?" he asked, hoping Cutter might be able to jog his memory. Cutter gave him a shrewd look.

"I didn't overhear anything. But you had an intense conversation with Connor before you were loaded in the ambulance and that boy managed to deal with claustrophobia and vertigo to help get us that venom sample. But then again, it was Abby who rode in the ambulance with you. Are you coming or not?" he asked, turning and continuing down the stairs. Stephen heaved a sigh but followed.

As he helped Abby load bags onto the gurney he couldn't help but stare at her.

"What?" she finally asked.

"Uh, my memory's back. Some of it, anyhow. Enough to know you're angry with me. I just don't know if you're angry because I asked _you_ out or if I asked _Connor_ out."

"Connor," she told him, never breaking her stride as she continued to unload the car.

"Will he at least talk to me about it?" he asked.

"Oh, he's not angry with you. He never was. In fact, he's already forgotten it." Abby informed him.

"Great, I remember and he forgets. Typical. Look, I was dying and I didn't want him to die without knowing that I liked him."

"Should have been thinking about your girlfriend," Abby grunted as she hefted heavy machinery.

"Yeah, well, the truth is, she and I, well, we don't know each other that well anymore," Stephen admitted, finally moving to help unload the car.

"Well, now she's back, you've got a chance to get reacquainted," she said with a sharp grin.

"Abby, I'm sorry." Stephen stated.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, am I?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Stephen knew that he should have talked with Connor that day but between Cutter going back in time to find Helen, his nearly dying from lack of oxygen and Helen's sudden arrest, Stephen thought he might be forgiven for letting it slip his mind. In fact, it wasn't until their investigation of a new anomaly that he even _saw_ Connor but they picked right back up as though they hadn't been apart.

"Fluke," Connor stated after Stephen kicked the ball with the heel of his shoe.

"Jealous," Stephen shot back without even missing a beat. And then they both tried not to bust out laughing when Cutter was pressed against the bathroom door, whispering about how the town council took pest control very seriously. It really was hilarious, two men with guns and three scientists storming into a bathroom prepared for anything extinct only to find a python.

"Don't worry, this one's just a baby. Fully grown, they can be up to 20 feet long," Connor stated, reading off his laptop.

"That makes me feel so much better," Stephen stated as he attempted to remain calm. With everything they dealt with, he didn't need everybody finding out that he didn't like snakes.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked, her grin indicating that she was more than amused. Well, at least she wasn't glaring daggers at him anymore.

"Yeah. Yeah, I love snakes," he lied.

"Oh, good. So you won't mind holding him while I get a proper sack," Abby stated and she was gone before he could protest.

"Abby..." Connor began but she was already gone. "Damn, I needed to talk to her," he muttered.

"Problem?" Stephen asked. Small-talk would help take his mind of the slithering serpent.

"Tom and Duncan are getting suspicious. I needed to know if I could borrow her couch for a week."

"I've got a couch," he offered, readjusting his grip on the python. Connor shot him a panicked look.

"Yeah, no. I don't think that's a good idea, what with Alison and -"

"We broke up." Stephen cut in.

"What?" Connor asked, dumbfounded. Further conversation was put on hold as Abby reentered with a sack. After the python had been carefully contained Abby grabbed the sack and headed out.

"So..." Stephen trailed off. "My couch is open," he reiterated. "And I'd still like to have dinner with you, if you don't completely hate me." Stephen shifted uncertainly as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I never hated you," Connor told him as he grinned. Stephen nodded.

"Yeah, I think Abby had that covered for you," he pointed out dryly and they both laughed.

"You should have heard her at the reservoir. You'd have thought that you had asked _her_ out," Connor stated as they walked down the stairs.

"So, is that a yes?" Stephen asked, halting at the bottom of the steps. Connor paused before grinning.

"...yeah. Yeah, it is."

~Review~


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